Antacid versus Cimetidine in Preventing Acute Gastrointestinal Bleeding

Abstract

Over a 15-month period, 75 critically ill patients at risk of acute gastrointestinal bleeding were randomized into two groups: one group (38 patients) received the H₂-blocker cimetidine intravenously at an initial dosage of 300 mg every six hours, and the other group (37 patients) received antacid (Mylanta II) through a nasogastric tube at an initial dosage of 30 ml every hour. Gastric pH was measured hourly and titrated above 3.5.